Buber, Martin

"The primary task of man is to perceive and understand reality as a whole."

"Every person has a unique way; none can be prescribed for another."

"To be is to encounter."

"The relation is reciprocity. If I am to have a genuine meeting with another, I must willingly enter into his reality."

"The Thou meets me through grace; it cannot be found by seeking."

"When two people relate to each other authentically and humanly, God is the electricity that surges between them."

"Let not each man search for truth independently, but let truth be the result of our meetings."

"The single presupposition of genuine dialogue is the authentic attitude of openness and acceptance."

"One does not learn how to live from examining life—one learns by living."

"Love is responsibility of an I for a Thou."

"The fundamental fact of human existence is not consciousness but encounter."

"Whoever goes his own way loses the way."

"The possibility of dialogue is the foundation of all community."

"In each person there is an unfathomable depth that cannot be revealed through any analysis."

"To have access to another, I must grant him access to myself."

"The Hasidim say: whoever humbles himself like the dust will not stumble."

"The world of It is set in the context of time and space. The world of Thou is not."

"Real relationship means mutual risk and total commitment."

"I must concern myself with all that is not myself."

"The Thou can never become an It."

"The person of influence is the person who has the habit of making real contact with other persons."

"All genuine language begins with speech between man and man."

"Freedom and destiny are welded together."

"The moment in which dialogue truly begins is the moment when one person realizes the other is not merely a thing to be used."

"The meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour. What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person's life at a given moment."

"All meaningful relationships require an element of risk and vulnerability."

"The relation I-Thou is immediate. No system of ideas, no foreknowledge, and no fancy intervene between I and Thou."

"We must not try to negate the evil impulse, but rather redirect it toward good."

"Every man has in him a spark of the divine."

"The dialogue between man and nature confirms the spiritual dimension of existence."